I have a sporterized 98 I like, but it has an issue I'm hoping other more experienced owners can guide me about. The gun will not pick up and load cartridges from the magazine reliably. The number of cartridges does not appear to matter. It seems like the bolt just does not pick up the cartridge on closure. The gun ejects correctly. I have double-checked the cartridge length against specs for reloads and tried factory loads, no difference. Th one thing that sticks in my mind is that when I bought the gun there was a small piece of "popsicle" stick taped to the cartridge follower that I removed. I should check the books for the real name of the part, but it is the rounded bullet shaped part that presses the cartridges toward the left side of the magazine when the loading door is closed. Is there a spring in the loading door mechanism that gets weak over time or an adjustment to fix this problem? Am I just not "holdin' my mouth right?" There are a couple of good gunsmiths down here arounf Vickburg, but I hate walking in and not have a good direction for them to go in to fix the Krag.

I was going to ask if the magazine cutoff lever was removed or not... but Butlersrangers advice is right on the money!

Anybody out there?